They wanted versatile athletes on both offense and defense. They got versatile athletes on offense and defense and, because of that, special teams.

Pardon the cliche, but the Philadelphia Eagles kicked butt and took names at the 2013 NFL Draft, accomplishing everything they wanted and then some.

In the process, they set themselves up with all the offensive pieces necessary to run whatever conception anyone has of coach Chip Kelly's offense, including his own, and the building blocks of a defense that, at the very least, should create more turnovers than the ineffective groups of the previous two seasons.

In fact, the biggest question about the Eagles' offense now has transitioned from how it can succeed to how can it not?

Quarterback. ... Uh, well, check there as well, with an asterisk. Thanks to fourth-round steal Matt Barkley joining this mix and amping up the competition factor with Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Dennis Dixon, the winner of this battle will be surrounded by playmakers, play enablers and savvy, quick play-callers. He will flourish, providing there is no freakish amount of injuries at one position, like there was last year on the offensive line.

The only way first-round draft pick Lane Johnson will not start at offensive tackle is if guard Danny Watkins, another first-round choice (from 2011), suddenly figures everything out. That's something everyone can live with, to say the least.

Zach Ertz, drafted in the second round, may turn out to be the best in a crowded stable of tight ends who will be utilized much differently under Kelly than ever before in this franchise.

The defense is a different story. Many questions remain about the ability of all the new players (as well as some established ones) to fit together.

In fact, Kelly was brutally honest when asked if he had enough talent in the secondary after draft choices Earl Wolff, a safety, and Jordan Poyer, an All-America cornerback, were added following the free-agent signings of cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams and safeties Kenny Phillips and Patrick Chung.

"I don't know," Kelly replied, "but we're bound by the rules we have, so it's not like I can say, 'Hey, let's go grab that guy.' He's probably under contract. We're going to go with the guys we have. I think we did a good job in free agency in adding Cary and Fletch and Chung and Kenny and those guys that we brought in.

"You add Wolff to the mix, you add Poyer to the mix, that's part of the whole deal. At some point in time you just can't keep saying, 'I need this guy, I need that guy.' These are the rules we're bound by. We used free agency, I thought we did a really good job in our approach to that, I thought we did a good job in the draft and now we have to get on the field and coach them up and go play."

This was Kelly's way of saying stockpiling talent is a little more difficult at this level of football than it was at the Oregon, which now is facing potentially serious NCAA sanctions for admitted recruiting violations while he was the head coach from 2009-12.

However, the Eagles succeeded in so many ways during the three-day draft process that it's impossible not to be encouraged by where they're sitting now.

Defensive tackle Bennie Logan (6-2, 310), defensive ends Joe Kruger (6-6, 270) and David King (6-4, 280) and Poyer (6-0, 191) give them the size and length they desire for their defense, not to mention all kinds of athletic ability and accomplishments at the college level.

But if there was an even more common denominator to this draft, it was brainpower and character.

Ertz carries a 3.4 grade point average at Stanford. Logan wore the prestigious No. 18 jersey, awarded by the LSU coaches to the player who best represents "what it means to be a Tiger on and off the field." Barkley has a 3.17 grade-point average and does extensive charity work. And his decision-making on the field is legendary.

Wolff graduated from North Carolina State way early, in 2011. King, an Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection, received Oklahoma's Don Key Award, given annually to the senior who exemplifies on the field and in the classroom.

After the draft, Kelly admitted these factors played a huge role.

"There's a very cerebral part to this game that I don't know if people give enough credit to," he said. "It's about making good decisions. Dumb people do dumb things and smart people really don't do dumb things. So I think part of the evaluation that goes along with how fast someone runs a 40 or how strong he is — I think the evaluation of them making and processing decisions, knowing whether or not you can count on them and if they're dependable are huge components to making decisions. It's not just a stopwatch and a bench press. There's so much more that goes into it."

Brains, power, talent, speed, size. What's not to like about the way the Eagles helped themselves in this year's draft?